Taking a Leap of Faith

Anne Jackson, radical thinker extraordinaire, wrote an honest, powerful post yesterday on her upcoming trip to Haiti. She said people had emailed her to say they were jealous that she’s going. While I’m not jealous, because I know that what she’ll see and feel when she’s there will be gutwrenching, I am a bit sad. Because I’ve felt the desire to do more than just send money and donate items. I want to get my hands dirty.

The tragedy in Haiti is another signal that my life is beginning to make clear the fact that some choices I made in younger years—and those I continue to make—are impeding the course I’m supposed to be charting now. But there are responsibilities—a mortgage, car payment, insurances, private school tuition—things it’s not easy to pack up and walk away from. Still, I know there’s a growing passion for a major shift in where I am now. I would have done it already, were it not for the requirement of stability my life demands.

Lately, I’ve been waiting on God to show me just how this equation is going to work out. I’ll admit, I’ve rarely been one to make radical shifts in my personal life. Ironically, it’s one of the things I love most about my job-every step in marketing has some measure of faith involved, but when it comes to my own life, I have looked for the safer ground, the “small ways” to be serve and be faithful. Those things are good and necessary because they teach us obedience and patience, but I feel something different around the corner. I don’t know what’s next, but I know it will take a leap of faith.

These days, I’m walking with purpose and listening more closely. Because my future is calling.

Post navigation

4 thoughts on “Taking a Leap of Faith”

Good thoughts, Jennifer. I think it also takes a leap of faith to remain faithful in the day-to-day things, right where we are. Sometimes it’s easier to do the “big things” when such an action is outside the realm of our daily lives. Thank God that many people answer God’s call to do those “big things,” but the lives of the Saints are also shot through with men and women who remained faithful in what often seemed like tedium. I love excitement–like the thought of going to Haiti to help in the midst of a huge tragedy. But recently, during freezing weather in Memphis, I found a quiet peace in giving out blankets to the homeless who were huddled together just a few blocks from my home in midtown Memphis. Like you, I have responsibilities that I can’t (and don’t really want to) walk away from. But we can make a difference close to home.

Thanks for your kind words. I agree – I am reading a book by Kathleen Norris that is all about faith in the small, mundane things (like laundry) and it has shown me how sometimes I can be really faithful in the dramatic, but not as faithful in the everyday. Guess we always have room to grow!

Anne, yes always room to grow. At the end of it all, having served in whatever way we’re charged with is a blessing in itself. I’d rather be a vessel in small ways than having not been used at all. Thanks for being a good example.